Zdenka Sokolíčková is currently conducting fieldwork in Antarctica

Zdenka Sokolíčková is currently conducting fieldwork in Antarctica. She is interested in how tourists experience temporality and whether encounters with the “polar wilderness” can encourage more sustainable forms of behaviour.

Antarctica is the only continent that has never been permanently inhabited by humans— for obvious reasons. Yet more than 120,000 tourists visited last year, and the numbers continue to rise. Visitors most often come from the USA, China, and Australia; among Europeans, Germans form the largest group.

What role does temporality play in how visitors experience Antarctica? And to what extent can guides influence tourists’ views on sustainability? We should learn more from the preliminary results of Zdenka’s research next year…